Pathological neural oscillations in the brain have been successfully disrupted in the prior art by stimulating nerve endings outside of the brain, such as by tactile stimulation of the fingertips, visual stimulation of the optic nerves, or acoustic stimulation of the auditory nerves. Such disruptions have also been achieved in the prior art by use of current-injecting electrodes implanted in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) of the brain.
Synchronous oscillations of a global or “target” population of neurons are disrupted by differentially stimulating subsets or “subpopulations” of the target. More specifically, each of at least two subpopulations is stimulated to oscillate in synchrony with an applied stimulus that is desynchronized (typically by being out of phase) with the target as well as with the stimuli applied to the other subpopulations being (or to be) stimulated. The stimuli are typically applied to the at least two subpopulations in a repetitive temporal sequence to produce a desynchronization of the target that is semi-permanent.
It is an object of the invention to provide an alternative and potentially less invasive and more effective method for achieving such desynchronization.